Gulf Marine Services - contract news has boosted the shares, up 44% in three months, now 20.90p, TP 32p

Mark Watson-Mitchell
2 days ago
3 min read

Mark Watson-Mitchell - 12.01.2026

We have been banging on about this little £241m-capitalised group for years, and now it is beginning to show some real strength, enough to be exciting new investors.

Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS) last week announced more good news on the contract front - reaction to which generated a good share price move back above the 20p level, last seen in early August 2025.

GMS Executive Chairman, Mansour Al Alami, stated that:

"This contract extension strengthens our backlog and highlights our customers' continued confidence in GMS's operations.

It follows several new contracts and extensions announced in the last two weeks, reflecting the ongoing strong demand across our markets.

As we enter 2026, we do so with positive momentum in our core regions."

In October, the group's CFO, Alex Aclimandos stated that:

"As we enter the final quarter of 2025, GMS confirms it remains on track to meet its 2025 objectives, despite absorbing adverse one-time events such as the Saudi tax judgment, the warrants exercise and the operational challenges resulting from the conflict in the Gulf during June 2025.

The increase in EBITDA enables continued deleveraging of the balance sheet, keeps us on schedule for the execution of the shareholder reward programme in the coming months, and positions the Group well for future opportunities."

Last Friday night, the group's shares closed at 20.90p, up over 44% since mid-October.

And I can see them moving even higher in 2026.

The Business

The company was founded in Abu Dhabi in 1977 and has become a world‐leading provider of advanced self‐propelled self‐elevating support vessels (SESVs).

The fleet serves the offshore energy industries from its offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

The Group's assets are capable of serving clients' requirements across the globe, including those in the Middle East, South East Asia, West Africa, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, and Europe.

The GMS fleet of 14 SESVs is amongst the youngest in the industry.

The vessels support GMS's clients in a broad range of offshore platform refurbishment and maintenance activities, well intervention work, and offshore wind turbine maintenance work (which are opex‐led activities), as well as offshore platform installation and decommissioning and offshore wind turbine installation (which are capex‐led activities).

The SESVs are categorised by size ‐ K‐Class (Small), S‐Class (Mid), and E‐Class (Large) ‐ with these capable of operating in water depths of 45m to 80m depending on leg length.

The vessels are four‐legged and are self‐propelled, which means they do not require tugs or similar support vessels for moves between locations in the field; this makes them significantly more cost‐effective and time‐efficient than conventional offshore support vessels without self‐propulsion.

They have a large deck space, crane capacity, and accommodation facilities (for up to 300 people) that can be adapted to the requirements of the Group's clients.

GMS operates a fleet of 14 liftboats, which it leases to clients primarily in the Middle East but also more widely including in Europe.

The company's vessels are used for both offshore maintenance and to assist with EPC projects, across oil and gas and wind.

Global upstream underinvestment in the late 2010's/early 2020's continues to reverse, including key GMS clients ADNOC, Saudi Aramco and Qatar Energy pursuing new activity programmes.

The Middle East, with its favourable geology, shallow water and extensive oil services availability is very competitive as a global oil and gas province, making it a focus for increased upstream spending, even at more moderate oil prices.

This is all contributing to an ongoing relatively tight market for GMS's liftboats, with utilisation (88% in Q1-Q3 2025, from 92% in 2024 and 94% in 2023) and day rates (US$36.0k/day in Q1-Q3 2025, from US$33.1k/day in 2024 and US$30.3k/day in 2023) continuing to support revenues overall.

Broker's View

Analyst Daniel Slater, at Zeus Capital, forecasts this to drive ongoing increases in GMS EBITDA (US$87.5m reported for 2023, US$100.4m for 2024, and US$101-109m then guided for 2025 and US$105-115m targeted for 2026), helping continue to pay down debt and drive a transfer of value from debt to equity (underpinned by the asset value of GMS's fleet).

The company is also now looking to begin returning value to shareholders by establishing dividends and/or buybacks in due course, alongside potentially adding further vessels.

Slater stated that:

"In anticipation of further contract wins, potential upgrades to guidance, and periodic financial results to highlight all this to the market, we have a positive outlook for the shares and value them at 32p."

My View

This is a cracking business, with massive potential and significant upside for its profits and its share price.